Student teachers reimagine the textbook.

Educator Seán Ó Grádaigh is preparing a generation of digitally engaged teachers — and making a positive impact on schools across Ireland. He’s developed a university program that empowers student teachers to create a digital curriculum in their native Irish language. As a semester project, Seán sends his students on a journey to create a Multi-Touch book with iBooks Author.

“By learning how to create their own content, our students aren’t just becoming better teachers but passionate authors of Gaelic textbooks that are needed in Irish schools.”

Seán Ó Grádaigh, Lecturer, School of Education, National University of Ireland, Galway

1

Plan

Mapping out an engaging experience.

iBooks

Exploring the possibilities.

Seán introduces the project by showing his class a Multi-Touch geography book he made with iBooks Author. His iBooks textbook uses graphs, pictures, video, text, and activities to engage all learners in a way traditional books can’t.

Pages

Planning for action.

Next, Seán’s students use Pages to agree on chapter learning objectives and outdoor field experiments, which they’ll conduct to create the content for their own geography book. To capture experiment data in the field, they design documents that will be easy to use outdoors.

Students use iPad to go beyond the classroom.

Camera

Experiments, explained.

Seán’s class heads to the coast to create instructions for the experiments they’ll include in their interactive book. Since outdoor activities can be hard to describe through text alone, they use the iSight camera on iPad to capture photos and video that document each step.

Photos

Perfecting every shot.

Back on campus, built-in editing features in Photos allow students to compile, crop, and color-correct images captured at the coast to beautifully illustrate the activities in their book.

iMovie

Instructions in action.

In iMovie, the class edits their footage into short instructional videos that support the written instructions in their book. Adding live-action demonstrations helps visual learners explore topics at their own pace.
Learn more about iMovie

GarageBand

Adding the audio.

Adding narration is an easy way for students to engage auditory learners. Seán’s students use GarageBand to record Gaelic voiceover tracks for their experiment instructions.
Learn more about GarageBand

Listen in as students record their narration in Gaelic.

iBooks Author Putting the pieces together.

Next, Seán’s students make their book with iBooks Author. After selecting a style and layout option, they drag and drop their images into a template and use interactive widgets to add videos, photo galleries, Gaelic text, chapter reviews, and more. When all the content they’ve created is in place, students preview their book in iBooks on Mac and iPad to make sure it meets their goals.

“Rather than teaching educational technology, we focus on content creation.”

Seán Ó Grádaigh

3

Share

Students use iBooks textbooks to advance their teaching — and their future.

iBooks

Students put their material to the test.

To try out their content, students use AirPlay to project their iBooks textbook during graded teach-backs with Seán and their peers. They also take their textbook into Irish immersion schools during their teaching practice. By the time they graduate, Seán’s students have become content creators, published authors, and experienced teachers.

x2

Seán’s students’ employment rate vs the national average*

The Gaelic edition of the students’ final book, Geography Field Investigations - Coast, is available for free in the iBooks Store. It’s used today in many schools across Ireland.